The news website Information Center of Kakheti (ick.ge) published a photo of the two seated, dressed in military fatigues and holding machine guns, with a black flag in the background carrying the symbols of Islamic State.

Pankisi locals are convinced that there is a group in Pankisi recruiting youth to go to Syria, which they think is dangerous and needs to be stopped.

At least ten fighters from Pankisi have so far died in the Syrian war. Most locals accuse the IS commander Tarkhan Batirashvili, also known as Abu Omar al-Shishani, of recruiting youth from Pankisi, his home valley.